Study into Climate Change and Clouds

A new project has been launched which will assess the part clouds play in contributing to climate change.  Known as EUCLIPSE (European Union Cloud Inter-comparison Process Study and Evaluation), the study will use advanced meteorological technology and £3 million in funding to determine the link between clouds and weather-based fluctuations. 

The ultimate goal of EUCLIPSE is to allow weather scientists to forecast how climate change will affect the world in future years, and the project is set to be undertaken over a four-year period.  13 institutions are taking part – Holland’s Delft University of Technology and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute among them.

Current climate model technology allows climate change predictions to be made, but not to a 100 per cent degree of accuracy.  However, it does highlight the variance in responses that clouds exhibit depending on the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide and, on this basis, forecasting how clouds will behave is a crucial aspect of predicting climate change as a whole. 

EUCLIPSE: Climate Change Study

The scientists involved in the EUCLIPSE climate change study will draw on new climate model technology known as EC-Earth.  This will produce hi-res cloud images which will be used to analyse how actual clouds will react to temperature increases. 

The research will also look into how clouds react when present in a variety of climates, generate numeric data in terms of clouds that form in various parts of the world, and create scenarios to illustrate the behaviour of clouds in extreme heat or cold. 

Clouds and Climate Change

The EUCLIPSE clouds and climate change study will also involve new satellite technology incorporating radar and lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) elements, and which will provide an unprecedented, 3D depiction of clouds.  The results provided by these satellites will feature in the next report planned to be produced by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 

Enviro News will provide further coverage of this clouds/climate change study as future facts emerge.